Every Spring, thousands of Christians get up very early in the
morning to attend special sunrise services in celebration of the
resurrection on "Easter" morning. Have you ever wondered about the
origin of the word Easter? Believe it or not, it actually can be found
in the King James Bible-

Acts 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison,
and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him;
intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

The word in the Greek translated as Easter is pasha
which Strong's defines as follows-

3957. pascha, pas'-khah; of Chald. or. [comp. H6453]; the
Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices
connected with it): --Easter, Passover.

Pascha is most commonly translated as Passover, and of the 29
times this word appears in the New Testament, only on this one occasion
is it translated as Easter. Today Easter is by far the most commonly
used term for the day of the resurrection, but would the disciples have
recognized the term and used it in connection with the resurrection of
Christ? Just where does the word Easter originate from?-

The origin of Easter

The English word Easter and the German Ostern come from a common
origin (Eostur, Eastur, Ostara, Ostar), which to the Norsemen meant the
season of the rising (growing) sun, the season of new birth. The word
was used by our ancestors to designate the Feast of New Life in the
spring. The same root is found in the name for the place where the sun
rises (East, Ost). The word Easter, then, originally meant the
celebration of the spring sun, which had its birth in the East and
brought new life upon earth. This symbolism was transferred to the
supernatural meaning of our Easter, to the new life of the Risen
Christ, the eternal and uncreated Light. Based on a passage in the
writings of Saint Bede the Venerable (735), the term Easter has often
been explained as the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess (Eostre), though
no such goddess is known in the mythologies of any Germanic tribe.
Modern research has made it quite clear that Saint Bede erroneously
interpreted the name of the season as that of a goddess.

Now, the Church uses
three names to designate the Easter day and season; one an English
name, one a Latin name, and one a Hebrew name—Easter, Resurrectio,
Phase. Some have never thought it worth while to inquire why this
season is called Easter-tide.
Just add the letter "N" to the word, make it
"Eastern ," and we have the solution. Some, indeed, derive from
"Eastre" the Goddess of Dawn; this season being dedicated to that
goddess in pagan, Anglo-Saxon days. But these have only pursued the
inquiry half-way. Why was the Goddess of Dawn called Eastre? Because
the dawn of day is in the East—Morgenland—as the musical,
mystical Germans call it—morningland.
The Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the
buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman
Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the
martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made
it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the
feast we celebrate during this season.
Sunday and Easter day are, if we
consider their derivation, much the same. In truth, all Sundays are
Sundays only because they are a weekly, partial recurrence of Easter
day. The pagan Sunday was, in a manner, an unconscious preparation for
Easter day. The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom. Balder the
Beautiful, the White God, the old Scandinavians called him. The Sun has
worshipers at this hour in Persia and other lands. ... There is, in
truth, something royal, kingly about the Sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice.
Hence, the Church, in these countries, would seem to have said, "Keep
that old pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified." And
thus, the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian
Sunday, sacred to Jesus. The Sun is a fitting emblem of Jesus. The
Fathers often compared Jesus to the Sun; as they compared Mary to the
Moon, the beautiful Moon, the beautiful Mary, shedding her mild,
beneficent light on the darkness and night of this world—not light of
her own; no Catholic says this; but—light reflected from the Sun, Jesus.

What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears
the Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than
Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name,
as pronounced by the people of Ninevah, was evidently identical with
that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard
on the Assyrian monuments is Ishtar.

Source: The Two Babylons, by the Rev. Alexander Hislop,
published 1943 and 1959 in the U.S. by Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, New
Jersey, page 103.

The word Easter, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon, is a term
derived from the pagan goddess of the dawn.

So, there is no doubt that the word Easter is not Christian, but
pagan in origin. Now as to the date itself, anyone who has studied the
Bible knows that the crucifixion and resurrection happen during the
Jewish festival of the Passover, which began on the 14th of Nisan. For
millennia the Jews have observed this festival week of Passover / Feast
of Unleaven Bread beginning on the 14th of Nisan. Since Jesus died on
the 14th of Nisan, then the resurrection happened on the 16th of Nisan.

Ever notice how your birthday falls on different days of the week,
from one year to the next? One year it might be on a Monday and the
next on a Wednesday. Such is the case with Passover. That being true,
then why is the resurrection day always celebrated on a Sunday? Each
year, if you were to follow the Bible, it should fall on a different
day of the week and only occasionally on a Sunday. In the early church
this issue caused quite a controversy-

Easter not appointed by the Apostles

[p. 130] The aim of the apostles was not to appoint festival
days, but to teach a righteous life and piety. And it seems to me that
just as many other customs have been established in individual
localities according to usage. So also the feast of Easter came to be
observed in each place according to the individual peculiarities of the
peoples inasmuch as none of the apostles legislated on the matter. And
that the observance originated not by legislation, but as a custom the
facts themselves indicate. In Asia Minor most people kept the
fourteenth day of the moon, disregarding the sabbath: yet they never
separated from those who did otherwise, until Victor, bishop of Rome,
influenced by too ardent a zeal, fulminated a sentence of
ex-communication against the Quartodecimans in Asia… [p. 131] The
Quartodecimans affirm that the observance of the fourteenth day was
delivered to them by the apostle John: while the Romans and those in
the Western parts assure us that their usage originated with the
apostles Peter and Paul. Neither of these parties however can produce
any written testimony in confirmation of what they assert.

[p. 211] It is probable that the primitive Christians kept the
Pasch on the [p. 212] 14th of Nisan as determined by the Jewish
authorities, and regarded it as the anniversary of the crucifixion. But
they also observed the first of every seven days, the Jewish week, as a
holy day in commemoration of the resurrection. It would seem that
gradually a shifting of emphasis took place until in the second century
it was generally accepted that the great annual solemnity of the Pasch
was the commemoration not of the crucifixion but of the resurrection.
Accordingly the majority of Christians celebrated the Pasch not on the
14th of Nisan but on the Sunday which fell on, or first after, that
date. The churches of the Roman province of Asia, however, followed the
older custom, keeping the Pasch on the 14th of Nisan, whatever the day
of the week. The controversy became acute towards the end of the second
century, and the observants of the 14th of Nisan, hence called
Quartodecimans [Fourteenthers], were finally excommunicated.

Source: James F. Kenney, The Sources for the Early History of
Ireland, Vol. 1, pp. 211, 212. Copyright 1929 by Columbia
University Press, New York.

So the church of Rome, which was keeping Sunday, excommunicated
those who observed the 14th of Nisan. To try and settle this and other e issues, the
Council of Nicaea convened by Emporer Constantine at his home in Turkey in 325, decreed that the resurrection should be
observed, and that on the first Sunday after the first full moon
following the vernal equinox (March 21). This places the earliest
possible date as March 22, and the latest at April 25th. This formula
is completely unbiblical! Following the Jewish lunar calendar, as
specified in the Bible and previously mentioned, the date would fall on
a different day of the week every year, that would coincide very closely
with a full moon every single time (14 Nisan being the middle of the
lunar month). The date that Christianity observes however, as one of
the most holiest of the year, is not even recognized by God in
scripture! It has its origin in nothing more than paganism and the
decrees or Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church! In fact, should the
Jewish Passover and Easter just happen to coincide on the same Sunday,
the Council of Nicaea decreed that the church of Rome would observe
Easter on the following Sunday, so as to distance themselves
from the practice of the Jews as much as possible.

The Tomb empty at sunrise

One might respond, oh, but the Lord was risen on a Sunday
and that is why we keep it so. That sounds fine, but where does the
Bible anywhere proclaim Sunday as a day to be observed for its
holiness? And what of the sunrise service on this unbiblical day of Easter
Sunday? -

John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early,
when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken
away from the sepulchre.

The Bible tells us the tomb was empty before sunrise!
The resurrection had already occurred, perhaps hours before.
Yet thousands of people gather each year, facing East, to the rising of
the Sun, as an integral part of their resurrection service, as a pagan
sunworshipper would. Now clearly these people are not consciously
worshipping the Sun, yet their actions would be indistinguishable from
a pagan, were one present at the same time. They both would be
rejoicing at the moment of the rising of the Sun.

The Vernal Equinox

The pagan at this time of year would be celebrating the increasing
of the Sun following the spring (vernal) equinox. That is the day on
which the amount of darkness and daylight are the same in duration.
Following that day the amount of daylight would steadily increase, a
little each day. This increase of daylight in the spring brings about
summer and makes crops thrive, thus the association with fertility
(eggs, rabbits, chickens). Hence the association always to Sunday, to
celebrate the increasing of the God of the Sun on the Sun Day.

One might respond with- well, yes this is all true, but we have
"baptized" this admittedly pagan day and made it holy to God, so there
is really no problem. Please note the following-

Exo 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it
with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said,
These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt.
Exo 32:5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron
made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt
offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat
and to drink, and rose up to play.

Aaron made a pagan golden calf, and then declared a festival to
the Lord! The people brought offerings, had plenty to eat and drink,
and made merry in celebration. Was God pleased by all this? Better yet,
was God pleased by any of this? NO! Their feast was an
abomination before the Lord. (Moses ground up the golden idol to powder
and made the people drink it, Exo 32:20.) Today many of God's professed
people turn themselves East to the rising Sun, on a Pagan Sun Day that
has no biblical foundation what-so-ever, have Easter egg hunts, baskets
full of candy, and sumptuous meals (usually including a ham, a
biblically unclean and forbidden food) and call it a festival to the
risen Lord. Just what do you think Moses would have to say to us today
about all of this? Can you picture Moses joining in the fun and
festivities? Aaron maybe, Moses... I think not.

So in conclusion, it should now be quite plain that the day of the
year celebrated by Christianity as "Easter" is based only on nothing
more than Sun worshipping paganism and unbiblical decrees of the Roman
Catholic Church. Why then, does the "Bible Only" Protestant Christian
observe it at all? Is this not a contradiction between profession and
practice of truly monumental, ... nay, stupifying proportions? Indeed,
I believe it is. Despite their good intentions, and mostly in
ignorance, they are in fact celebrating the risen Sun, not the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Blessing of the New Fire

Easter Vigil, called by St. Augustine the "Mother of All Vigils,
" [occurs] the night before Easter. Ceremonies: blessing of new fire,
procession with the Easter Candle, ...

No lights are on in the church; a fire is prepared outside the
church or, if not possible, inside the vestibule. After greeting the
congregation the priest blesses the new fire, symbolic of Christ's
Resurrection, coming forth from the tomb and giving light to the world.
On the Paschal Candle the priest traces a cross and the numerals of the
current year. Finally the priest lights the candle from the new fire
and the deacon or, if there is no deacon, the priest lifts the Paschal
candle and sings Christ is our Light.

After walking halfway into the church, he sings the same
acclamation, after which the people light their candles from the Easter
Candle. Upon arriving at the altar, the acclamation is sung the third
time and the lights in the church are put on. Immediately thereafter
follows the Exsultet, the Easter Proclamation, sung while all
stand and hold lighted candles. It honors the night on which Christ
redeemed us.

Source: The Dictionary of the Liturgy, by Rev. Jovian P.
Lang, OFM, published by Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York,
copyright 1989, page 173.

So what exactly, is the real relationship between
lighting a "new fire" on the evening before Easter Sunday, and then
using it to light candles?

SECTION V. --- LAMPS AND WAX-CANDLES.

Another peculiarity of the Papal worship is the use of lamps and
wax-candles. If the Madonna and child are set up in a niche, they must
have a lamp to burn before them; if mass is to be celebrated, though in
broad daylight, there must be wax-candles lighted on the altar; if a
grand procession is to be formed, it cannot be thorough and complete
without without lighted tapers to grace the goodly show. The use of
these lamps and tapers comes from the same source as all the rest of
the Papal superstition. That which caused the "Heart," when it became
an emblem of the incarnate Son [Bel / Tammuz], to be represented as a
heart on fire, required also that burning lamps and lighted
candles should form a part of the worship of that Son; for so,
according to the established rites of Zoroaster, was the sun-god
worshipped. When every Egyptian on the same night was required to light
a lamp before his house in the open air, this was an act of homage to
the sun, that had veiled its glory by enshrouding itself in a human
form. When the Yezidis of Koordistan, at this day, once a year
celebrate their festival of "burning lamps," that, too, is to the honor
of Sheikh Shems, or the Sun. Now, what on these high occasions was done
on a grand scale was also done on a smaller scale, in the individual
acts of worship to their god, by the lighting of lamps and tapers
before the favorite divinity. In Babylon, this practice had been
exceedingly prevalent, as we learn from the Apocryphal writer of the
Book of Baruch [Chapter 6, verse 18]. "They (the Babylonians)," says
he, "light up lamps to their gods, and that in greater numbers, too,
than they do for themselves, although the gods cannot see one of them,
and are senseless as the beams in their houses." In Pagan Rome, the
same practice was observed.

Source: The Two Babylons, by the Rev. Alexander Hislop,
published 1943 and 1959 in the U.S. by Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune New
Jersey, page 191.

So in a Catholic Bible, if you look in the 6th Chapter of Baruch,
you will find confirmation that the Pagan Babylonian practice was to
light lamps or candles before the idols of their gods. I would venture
to say that if you enter virtually any Catholic Church, you will find
statues of Mary, Jesus or various saints that have candles lit before
them. This practice has no Christian or Jewish origin, it is strictly
pagan, and honors the sun god. Wax candles are not Christian in origin,
they are Pagan, and have no place in true Christian worship.

And what of the Catholic "blessing of the new fire" on the evening
before Easter Sunday, from which so many candles are lit? Is it not now
obvious that its origin is not in the celebration of the risen Son of
God, but rather idol worship and the pagan Babylonian god of fire, and
sun-god, whose emblem is a flaming heart, and whose name is
Baal or Tammuz? The "blessing of the new fire" is an adopted pagan
practice that honors the new strength of the Sun as evidenced by the
increasing daylight and lessening night after the Spring Equinox, and
this has been plainly admitted by Catholics:

6. The Easter Fire

The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter mountain,
Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from
wood by friction (nodfyr); this is a custom of pagan origin in
vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter.
The bishops issued severe edicts against the sacrilegious Easter fires
(Conc. Germanicum, a. 742, c.v.; Council of Lestines, a. 743, n. 15),
but did not succeed in abolishing them everywhere. The Church adopted
the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery
column in the desert and to the Resurrection of Christ; the new fire on
Holy Saturday is drawn from flint, symbolizing the Resurrection of the
Light of the World from the tomb closed by a stone (Missale Rom.). In
some places a figure was thrown into the Easter fire, symbolizing
winter, but to the Christians on the Rhine, in Tyrol and Bohemia, Judas
the traitor (Reinsberg-D�ringfeld, Das festliche Jahr, 112 sq.).

Zoroastrian worship involves prayers and symbolic ceremonies
said before a sacred fire. This fire, which was a God-symbol even
before Zarathushtra, was used by the Prophet and by his followers ever
after as the ideal sign of God, who is light, warmth, energy.
Zoroastrians do NOT worship fire, as some people believe. They use Fire
as a symbol, or an icon, the focus of their worship.

Among people of Western Europe, it is traditional to eat hot
cross buns on Easter Sunday morning. These small, sweet buns are
usually decorated with equal armed, or solar crosses made of white
icing; but the Pagan Greeks also made offerings of cakes inscribed with
the solar cross to several Goddesses. Eos, the Goddess of the Sunrise,
was probably among these. Anglo-Saxons too make offerings of cakes
incised with solar crosses, and they were worn as amulets and hung in
the homes for protection and prosperity.

The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or
Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean [Babylonian] rites just as they
do now. The "buns" known too by that identical name, were used in the
worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess Easter [Ishtar/Astarte], as
early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens - that is, 1500
years before the Christian era. "One species of sacred bread," says
Byrant, (1) "which used to be offered to the gods was of great
antiquity, and called the Boun." Diogenes Laerius, speaking of this
offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of
which it was composed, saying, "He offered one of the sacred cakes
called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey." (2) The prophet
Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of offering when he says, "The
children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women kneed
their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven." The hot cross buns
are not now offered, but eaten, on the festival of
Astarte; but this leaves no doubt as to whence they have been derived.

(1) Mythology, vol. i, p. 373.
(2) LAERTIUS, p. 227, B.

Source: The Two Babylons, by the Rev. Alexander Hislop,
published 1943 and 1959 in the U.S. by Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune New
Jersey, pages 107-108.

Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the
fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not
provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Jer 44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and
poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship
her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?